Persuasive
by Hahiho
Summary: A series of strange attacks happened at the Order, different from usual. Five exorcists were sent to investigate, but of course, Lavi and Allen added a new problem. Something new could grow roots... Or the dirt in between could push them apart. Lavi/Allen
1. Strange attack

**Chapter 1: Strange Attack**

"This… should be… okay," whispered Lavi, his sentence broken apart by sharp intakes of breath.

"I hope… so," Allen needed air as much as Lavi did.

Still panting, they could finally get a look at their surroundings. They had run into a dark forest, where the trees stood so close to each other that they could barely spot a few centimetres of the ink blue night sky.

"You think Kanda and the others will be alright?" Allen asked, worry evident in his voice, the 'worry' meant for 'the others'.

"I think so. At least Marie's with them, and he makes a quite scary first impression," Lavi assured the younger exorcist, "Still, I hope they'll back off soon enough."

They both agreed on doing the only wise thing they could do right now; looking for a place to sleep. It was a bit too risky to return yet, and they were tired because they had been called up in the middle of the night. After searching their way through the forest for an hour or two, they finally found a cave-like rock that could at least shelter them from a light drizzle and some wind. Which was better than nothing.

"What could've gotten into those people?" Allen sighed, sitting down on the floor of the small cave, "Could a few bad rumours about the Order really have had the force to put _three_ entire villages up against us?"

"Hmm… You know, I think it's more of a combination of that and the advancements of communication. Telephones are getting more popular these days and mail is delivered way faster than it was about ten years ago. Otherwise, there could never have been so many people at once. Let alone them even knowing about the Order…" answered Lavi, holding a finger against his lips in thought. "The rumours about exorcists 'killing innocent people' probably started in the village where Yuu and Chaoji had a mission two weeks ago." Allen grinned, "Chaoji was lucky that Kanda didn't _purposely_ think he was an akuma."

"Although I have to admit that he could get mistaken for a level 1 because of his refined shape." Lavi paused for a moment. "Now that I think of it, for the past weeks I haven't read about this attack in any newspaper. They can't have acted on impulse, since there were so many people willing to walk such a great distance. Whatever, I'll come up with some great theory later."

Looking up at the leaves above him, Allen silently muttered, "Why are _we_ the ones _they_'re getting in trouble, while _we_'re supposed to get _them_ out of trouble?"

"Heh. This is a good time to exclaim that life isn't fair." Allen could hear a smile through Lavi's played bitterness.

* * *

The whole thing had started in Komui's office. A golem had received a message from two finders who were on their way back. They had sounded confused, saying something about a large group of villagers gathering in the woods surrounding the Black Order and its deep ravine. When the finders asked why they had come here, the people got angry and started yelling about 'men, clad in black, killing innocent men, women and even children, without any obvious reason'.

Komui, for once serious, had desperately tried to explain that they had the wrong idea of what they had seen. Desperately indeed, because they got even angrier. And on top of it, some of their 'leaders' had started transforming into their akuma forms. Panic had broken out between the still human people, so a few exorcists had been sent to protect them.

The panicking people began attacking them too, together with the akuma. Those akuma hadn't been a problem, but they couldn't do anything against the humans. Kanda was the only one scaring a few of them off, but the way he cursed, threatened and pushed them out of his way to get to the akuma, had had little effect overall.

So, Marie, Kanda, Lavi, Krory and Allen decided to flee (Lenalee had been forced by her brother to stay inside, much to her protest).

* * *

Allen let out a loud sigh, "I never expected that not being able to do anything could almost be worse than fighting a Noah…"

"You're right. Anyway, maybe we should catch up on some sleep, since that cruel witch of a Komui called us up so harshly while I was sleeping!" said Lavi dramatically.

"You're always sleeping," retorted Allen immediately.

"Aww, no Allen, mostly I'm helping Gramps out with whatever he comes up for me to do."

"The other boy raised his eyebrows, "I guess you're right if you count all the time you're running away from him as 'helping out'."

"The geezer needs a work-out. He should be grateful."

Allen chuckled at that and suggested it would be better to start a fire to keep whatever lived in these woods at a distance. Although, they soon realized that simple action to be impossible because all the wood was wet.

"Oh, great to be stuck here in autumn," mumbled Lavi under his breath, "the good thing is that we won't be the victim of a troop of mosquitoes."

Allen grinned half-heartedly and lay down next to Lavi.

* * *

…Only to awake a few hours later, to the sound of rain clattering. Much to his distaste, his feet were already getting wet. He saw the same thing was happening to his friend, so he shook him awake.

"Well, good morning, Moyashi-" "Allen!" "-what a beautiful day this is, it's not even light yet... Just... lemme...nice ponytail... cut it... off... Hmm... You'll get a...strawberry instead... "

The younger ignored the incomprehensible mumbling, "Shouldn't we be heading back soon? I mean, I don't want them to worry because we decided to go _camping_ in this leaky forest."

"What if those villagers thought it was a good idea to be camping too? And shouldn't someone of the science department have sent us a message by now? It'd hurt if they haven't noticed our absence yet."

"Umm… I _might_ have left Tim in my room…"

Lavi smacked his own forehead with his palm. "Oh, great. I guess I'll have no choice but to take a look above the trees to get an idea of where we are." He took his Innocence from the pocket in his pants and extended it.

"Aah!" Allen let out a not-so-manly shriek when he got drenched by what felt like a whole bucket of water falling from the leaves pushed away by Lavi. "You could at least have _told_ me where you were going to do that!"

A few seconds later, Lavi got back down and said that the curtain of rain was so dense he could hardly look ten meters ahead. Having his lack of feeling of direction in mind, Allen suggested that maybe it would be better to stay where they were for a while.

Sitting back down in their relatively dry cave, Lavi noticed that the younger was shivering.

"You cold?"

"No, I'm fine," Allen answered, failing miserably to suppress his trembling. "Are you or what?"

"Nah, Gramps says I have an unusually high body temperature."

"Must be from all the fire – Hey! Can't you make us a fire with your hammer?"

"That thing isn't always too precise," Lavi frowned. "The risk of burning everything to a crisp – or in this case, smoking us alive – is too great."

"Rain makes fire so useless," Allen mumbled, shivering harder by the minute.

"Come here, Moyashi," the older said, a hint of what sounded like worry in his voice, "I don't want to return you with a cold to our dear friend Link."

Lavi wrapped his arm and a part of his coat around his trembling friend. The latter was amazed by how warm it felt and secretly shifted a bit closer to Lavi's side.

"How come you're so wet?" he asked, looking down at the white-haired boy.

"Your fault," he grumbled.

"What? Are you accusing _me_? You know I have a thing with fire!"

Laughing lightly, they both became silent. Allen felt comfortable like this, although he would never admit it under normal circumstances. Soon, he began dozing off. He slept until, of course, his stomach started rumbling.

Great, he thought, I'll go search for something to eat before it becomes so loud that the local wild boars think I'm one of them. Looking up at Lavi, he saw he was still fast asleep.

_He won't notice, I'll probably be back soon, anyway._ Slowly, he squirmed from under Lavi's arm and stretched. His clothes were still slightly damp and cold, but he could live with it.

Allen walked for a few minutes, making sure to avoid the thorny bushes that seemed to grow everywhere. Pausing to wipe a bug off his coat, he looked around and saw a giant apple tree. He suppressed the urge to jump in joy, until he saw that all of the fruit grew at at least three meters from the ground.

"Oh, the irony, why _now_ of all time?" he sighed, grabbed a low branch and pulled himself up. He picked off as many apples as he could reach and threw them down, having no place to store them. When he was trying to reach an unusually big apple, he suddenly saw a flash of gold passing by. It made him sway a little, but he was lucky to regain his balance (and it might be a good thing to be lucky when you're at a height of six and a halve meters).

"Timcanpi! You found me!" The golden golem sat down on his shoulder and showed him a message from Reever, telling them to return to the Order as soon as possible. In the background, Allen could hear Komui shrieking, _"No, Lenalee! Stay here! I don't want you to get eaten by a bear!"_ followed by the sound of the girl's clipboard making contact with her brother's head. Laughing at that, Allen asked his golem to help him carry the apples.

Though, his luck from a moment ago seemed to have left him when he put his foot on a dead branch. It cracked under his weight, while his hands slipped from the slippery branch he was holding. Adrenaline hit him as he was falling, and when he hit the ground, a terrible pain emerged from his right knee. He cried out, fiercely thinking _'Oh no, shit, stupid leg! Must I really be such a fool? _ He bit his tongue to keep silent, gasping in pain.

"Timcanpi, swallow as many of those stupid apples as you can," trying to keep his voice composed, "I'll be fine, show me the way back to Lavi, he can't be too far."

He pulled himself upright on a nearby tree (silently cursing the one he just fell from) and calmed himself. He had no choice but to go back to where Lavi was, so he had to start moving. Carefully, he took a step, but almost collapsed when pain erupted from his knee again.

"Ignore it, Walker," he whispered angrily to himself, "worse things than this have happened, don't be so silly..." Holding onto trees for dear life, he concentrated on following Timcanpi. As they got closer, he saw Lavi, rubbing his neck confusedly (and not fully awake yet) until he noticed the golden golem flying towards him, followed by a pale Allen.

"Lavi!" the boy shouted shakily, "we got a message from the Order! We should return!"

"Where've you been?" the redhead frowned, still rubbing his neck, "I just woke up because I thought I heard something..."

"Well, ehm, I was hungry, so I-I got us some food... Timcanpi has it."

Lavi eyed him blankly, "That's the only thing you ever think of, Moyashi."

_Moyashi_ let it go for once, needing his breath to tell Timcanpi to show them the message. After watching it, Lavi grinned, "Quite obvious, let's get moving before Komui accuses us of being the cause of Lenalee getting eaten."

"Lavi, wait!" Lavi turned around and watched his companion with mild interest. "I- uh... I'm still hungry! Let's- Let's eat first!"

Allen quickly sat down against a tree (which wasn't really quick, but still fast enough), holding his leg in the least painful position while Lavi had his eye averted to catch the apple Timcanpi 'spit' at him. "Why don't you come closer?" he frowned. "I like sitting here, really, this spot is a little dryer... Yeah." Allen caught an apple and finished it in three bites, soon followed by another one. After they finished, Lavi got up and told Timcanpi to lead them back to the Order. Being Bookman's apprentice, he already knew something was wrong.

"Can you get up?" he asked gently, put an arm around Allen's back and tried to get him to stand.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled when he was unable to do so, slumping his forehead against Lavi's shoulder. The pain was only getting worse, so he barely dared moving anymore.

"Your right leg, right?" Allen nodded, accepting the fact that he couldn't keep anything hidden from a Bookman. Lavi helped him getting down and tried bending the leg, but only touching the knee already resulted in the boy crying out in pain, "Ah! Stop!"

"I'm just going to take a look at your knee, okay?" Lavi slowly pulled Allen's pant leg up and was met by a purple, swollen joint. "What the hell did you do? I can even see a bone!" he exclaimed.

"Fell..." came the pained answer.

"At first, I thought it would just be sprained, but it's obviously broken! Okay, we don't have ice around to stop the swelling, so we'll have to hold it high. And I'm going to splint it." Bookman Jr. Ripped a sleeve off his shirt, shredded it some more and put it loosely like a bandage around the younger's knee. With skilled hands, he carved a piece of wood into a plank and strapped it with the rest of the cloth to the backside of his leg. "This should do for a while," he said, admiring his work. Allen attempted to get up, but was soon stopped by Lavi. "None of that, you'll only strain it more, plus, we've got to keep it high, remember?"

Allen yelped in surprise as he suddenly got picked up by Lavi. He positioned the limb so that it couldn't move too much and told Timcanpi again to guide them. Subtly looking down at Allen, he saw him cringe at every step he took, even though he was already being careful. _'Protectiveness'_ was trying to get to the surface of his consciousness, but he instinctively pushed the emotion away to the dark depths of his soul. _A Bookman has no need for a heart_, his mind repeated, _you already let that one through way too many times. Stop it before it gets too strong, _Lavi_._

"What are you looking at?" A voice invaded his thoughts. He focused and realized that Allen must have thought he was staring. And judging by the way the boy uncomfortably shook his hair in front of the scar that crossed his left eye, his expression had probably been a bit strange.

"Nothing," _great answer, now he's sure of it_. "Come on, let's get back before dark."

Allen looked at his hands and nodded.

The rest of the trip went surprisingly smoothly. Lavi had to take a rest every now and then, and Allen felt sorry for him.

"We're almost there, I can nearly smell the old Panda's make-up." Lavi smiled at him and gently wiped the hair from his forehead, "Still alright?" He picked Allen up again, mentally cringing a little as the boy whimpered softly, and started walking again.

* * *

**A/N:** If you thought "what the hell is this?" while reading, then I kindly ask you to help me improve! ;D And umm… yeah, this is my first fanfiction ever. Actually my first 'decent' story ever. (When I was about eight, I always wrote the same story about a cat celebrating its birthday -_-)  
And a few months ago, I attempted an English-Dutch translation of a great fanfic (Mozarts Spirit by P.A. Lovas), so if you know Dutch, tell me if I'm worthy of doing the second chapter too! C: (In case you're interested, it's on my profile)

[People who don't use the metric system: 1 meter ≈ 3 feet, 3 centimeter ≈ 1 inch]

This won't be some plotless smut or fluff, because I actually thought of a storyline! It's somewhere in my head, and I hope to get it written in this fic.

As you probably noticed, English isn't my first language, so if you see any weird expressions, words used in a wrong context, or just plain nonsense, PLEEAASE tell me!

Review if you want my eternal gratitude! XP No, really, a review would be great. I've always dreamed of getting a review. With fries, please.

Chapter 2 will be online when it's ready! :D (Which shouldn't take too long)


	2. Sleeping and Waking up

**Chapter 2: Sleeping and waking up**

"I'm s-so sorry! If only I had searched further, I m-might have found them!" the tall, vampire-like exorcist sniffed, "I'm a disgrace t-to all exorcists! I s-should've tried harder!"

Lenalee and Miranda were trying to calm him down, but the fact that the older of the two was almost as nervous as Krory was, didn't help the situation any further. The Romanian man had been the first to return after the attack, but when he saw that the four other exorcists were still missing, he decided to go back and look for them. Jumping from tree to tree, he had soon found Kanda and Marie, and seeing they were alright (and because the dark look in Kanda's eyes scared him a little), he continued looking for the other two. He kept going until rain began pouring down from the night sky. It obstructed his vision and made the trees slippery. He thought it would be better to go back, maybe Lavi and Allen had already passed underneath him.

Lenalee, Miranda and he had been sitting in the lounge for the whole night and during the early hours of the morning, waiting.

"I'm the cause of the death of those poor boys!" Krory burst out in tears again, "They had a whole l-life ahead of them, but now they're dead because of m-_me_! Does that make m-me a ki-killer?"

Miranda patted his arm uneasily.

"Shut up! I'm sure they'll get back! Now _please_ stop being so overly dramatic!"

Both adults got silent and stared wide-eyed at the Chinese girl. When she realized she had just shouted out her thoughts, she hastily apologized.

_Maybe I should do this more_, Lenalee thought, as the two finally stopped behaving like students before their final examinations. She was worried for her friends, too. _I don't think I'll survive if I think they're dead again… I was close to going crazy back when we lost Allen because that Noah, Tyki Mikk, damaged his heart. And that time in the Ark… I thought I was going to lose everyone._

She shook her head, and with renewed determination, she said to Krory and Miranda, "We can only believe in them, they never fail to surprise us."

They both seemed to agree on that, so they stayed where they were, seated on the comfortable black-and-white-striped couches.

* * *

It was around noon, when the cries of the stone gatekeeper could be heard everywhere in the Black Order.

"Quick! That must be Lavi and Allen!" Lenalee heard her brother shout. She got up and hurried to the entrance hall, feeling both anxious and relieved at the same time. Slipping to a stop, she immediately lost all her previous anxiety when she saw both still in one piece, without any excessive bleeding. Coming closer, the anxiety started returning exponentially. She first saw that Allen looked extremely fragile, his skin was pale, eyes closed, breathing ragged, cradled carefully in Lavi's arms. Then, she noticed the bandage around his stiff-looking leg. She put her hands over her mouth, wanting to ask if it was as bad as it looked, but was interrupted by Lavi shouting, "Get a nurse! This has to get operated as soon as possible!"

Then, the redhead ran off. Lenalee felt her legs moving on their own as she caught up with Lavi, trying to see how bad Allen's injury was. She pushed the doors of the infirmary open so Lavi could enter.

"Nothing fatal this time," Lavi told the girl as he noticed her gaze, "a bad knee fracture that's probably going to take a long time to heal. I think it's a good thing that he's barely conscious."

He saw Lenalee open her mouth, but told her he'd explain later and gently placed Allen down on the bed closest to him, nonetheless earning a small, pained whimper.

"It's okay," he stroked the boy's white hair, instead of ruffling it, "this will be over before you know it." That was a lie, and he knew it, but hoped that his tone would sound calming.

He was glad to see a nurse and a doctor join them. From the corner of his eye, he watched the nurse putting an anesthesia mask over Allen's mouth and nose, while shortly explaining the doctor what happened earlier. The man nodded and took off with his now sleeping friend.

"Let's get out," he told Lenalee, "that's going to take a while."

He let the girl lead him to the lounge, where he met Krory and Miranda, miraculously asleep.

"Well, at least they calmed down," Lenalee shrugged.

Lavi sat down and told her what had happened after they got away from the villagers, in the assumption that she had already been informed about last night's event.

"He told me he fell, but I don't know how. Not that it matters… I'm glad he didn't behave as frail as he looked…" He pulled a hand through his hair and rubbed the bridge of his nose. The Chinese girl put a hand on his shoulder and softly said, "I'm glad you're both alive, Arystar made me a bit scared of the state in which you would return… If you returned in the first place."

"Then you don't know us yet," Lavi said with a wry smile.

* * *

It had already been an hour and forty-seven minutes. Lenalee had left twenty-two minutes ago to bring the remaining scientists of the science department their coffee. Not that long, actually.

_It's as if I've been waiting here for days_, the future Bookman thought.

Lately, he was getting more and more unsure about the 'Bookman' part. There were times when he doubted if his smiles had become genuine, or were still an act. The same was happening to some other emotions. He somehow felt guilty about Allen's injury, but the rational part of his mind kept assuring him that he didn't have anything to do with it. He hadn't even been there when it happened.

_Maybe I could've caught him when he fell… Argh! __No, don't start thinking in 'if's'! Think about something else… Like those three reports you still have to write…_

He raised an arm to scratch his head, when he saw Link walking his way.

"Where's Walker?" the inspector asked rudely.

"Infirmary. Doesn't want to see you."

"Why?"

"He doesn't like your hairstyle. Me neither."

"No, I asked why he's in the infirmary." The blonde narrowed his eyes.

"Why would anyone go there?" Lavi raised his left eyebrow.

"Does it have something to do with that inner Noah of his? Because then, the hospital might not be the best place to put him."

"So you guys really see him only as a villain, don't you?" Lavi's voice dripped with sarcasm.

"We have to do our job." With that, he left, not wanting to start an unreasonable discussion.

Lavi did his best to suppress the wave of anger Two-Spot had just caused.

* * *

"Leave it as it is, Marie! Something as stupid and small as _this_ will only take a few minutes to heal!"

"What, I'm saying, Kanda, is that that 'curse' of yours is getting slower. We should help it now it's still there."

The sound of a loud, angry voice and a low, tranquil one fighting filled the lounge. The noise made Lavi wake up from his trance and focus on the two speakers.

"It's just a scratch! Why the hell are you being so annoy- OW!"

Lavi saw Noise Marie's big silhouette grab the back of Kanda Yuu's coat, lift him from the ground, and hang him over his broad shoulder in one swift motion. It seemed to take Kanda a second to realize what happened, then he furiously started hitting Marie's back (the only part he could reach), shouting, "Put me down! NOW!"

Marie was as calm as ever, he didn't look bothered by Kanda's stomping, "Afraid?" the tall man grinned.

Lavi found the scene playing in front of his eyes too comical to let go. As he walked up to the duo, he noticed a long gash on the Japanese's cheek. It looked as if the blood had been hastily wiped off, and the edges had an unhealthy red colour.

"Trouble, Yuu?" He got the exact reaction he was expecting, "Marie's right, your little scratch has to be taken care of. What if it scars and ruins your pretty face?"

If looks could kill, Lavi would now be experiencing the most painful death possible.

"Going to the infirmary too?" Marie's low voice asked.

"Hmm. I hope Allen's back. And otherwise, I'll just annoy my dear friend Yuu."

Kanda opened his mouth to yell at 'Baka Usagi', but was interrupted when Marie opened the door of the infirmary, "Quiet, Kanda. You might wake the dead people up."

Lavi looked around, searching for the white-haired boy. His gaze found him, and he would've run to the bed if it hadn't been for the matron at the opposite side of the ward, watching him severely.

He couldn't see how Allen's leg was, because someone seemed to have mummified him in white blankets. He pulled at the layers of fabric to make them a bit looser and stroked his right arm. He wasn't entirely sure if he could feel his touch with his left arm…

"I see you already found Allen."

Lavi quickly pulled his hand back and turned around to face Komui.

"They told me the operation was successful, so I thought I might as well check if he was awake yet."

"Glad to hear that. How long will it take till he wakes up?"

"Half an hour, at most, though I don't think it'll be that long. You could wait here for a while. I'm sure he'll be happy to wake up to someone familiar. Bye, I still have a lot of sl- uh –work to catch up to!"

With that, the chief left him alone. Lavi walked up to a window. The scenery outside was dominated by shades of red, orange, yellow and brown. Most pine trees were still green. The vibrant colours gave him a warm feeling, but it was quite ironic that they announced a monotonous winter.

The reflection in the window moved, so Lavi returned to Allen's bed. With heavily lidded eyes, the boy looked at him shortly.

"Hey, how're you feeling?" Lavi whispered.

Allen just groaned and closed his eyes again.

They kept silent for a few minutes, until Allen did a second attempt at waking up.

"La…vi?" he said hoarsely.

"I'm here," Lavi put his hand over Allen's smaller one, "Does anything hurt? I'll get a painkiller, if you want." _Oh God, I'm starting to sound like a mom._

Allen shrugged. "Dunno," He sleepily looked in Lavi's eye and murmured, "How long will it take to heal?"

"Probably a few months until you can walk normally again." He saw Allen's eyes widen in horror, so he quickly added, "But the positive thing is, no missions in the meantime!" _His eye started going crazy when he was at the Asia Branch for about a few _days_… We're going to have some problems…_, he thought nervously.

"WHAT? What am I going to do when I'm like… this? What if we get attacked again? What if-"

"Shh. We'll see. We'll just have to keep you out of trouble. You'll have to keep _yourself_ out of trouble."

"Mr. Lavi!" the matron's voice was near… Which meant that she herself was also close. Lavi hastily stood up and lifted his arms, as if she was pointing a gun at him.

"You're causing too much stress on my patient! Get out! Now!"

"No, please Ms! Let me stay for a while!" Lavi pleaded.

"Yes! He wasn't causing stress on me!" Allen joined the conversation.

"Okay then. Five more minutes, but then you get out! Mr. Walker needs his rest!" She eyed him wearily, then turned her back on them and walked away.

"So," Lavi decided to spend the little time he had usefully, "Link asked me where you were, but I don't think he'll come to visit you here. Rouvelier must've told his dogs they shouldn't fear a crippled potential Noah." He smiled to make the whole thing funnier than it actually was. Allen stared blankly at the bulge his leg made in the blankets.

"Ah, come on, Moyashi, you have friends who will help you. You're not alone."

Allen nodded weakly, "It's Allen."

"Mr. Lavi, out! You're making too much noise!" screeched the matron's voice.

"You're the one making the noise here," he said silently, so only Allen could hear him.

The redhead stood up and lightly touched the boy's cheek with his fingertips, but he quickly retreated them when he realized what he was doing. He cleared his throat and shortly said, "Bye." At the door, he glanced back at Allen and saw him lift his hand to his face, eyes still cast down.

**

* * *

**

A/N:

This was chapter 2, I hope you liked it! :)

Is it advancing enough in your opinion? Too slow? Too fast? Everyone 'in character'? I hope to write the next chapter in a shorter amount of time!

Thanks for reading!

Special thanks: Timeless Moment, ClownOfAbyss, DGrayManFanatic and Vivi


	3. Recovery is Boring

**Chapter 3: Recovery is Boring**

By now, Allen had lost count of the amount of times he had fallen asleep and woken up again. Same for his sense of time. He could've been lying in his bed for a week, or maybe it had only been a few hours. The only thing he was aware of, was the dull pain coming from his right knee.

Slowly, an image of Lavi, together with the smell of moist leaves and earth, drifted to a higher level of his consciousness. Then, his mind flooded with more memories of what happened earlier. So, they had managed to get back safely… He tried shaking his head to get rid of the fuzziness clouding his thoughts, but the movement only made him dizzy.

_I'm so stupid, I fight akuma every day, I got out of a self-destructive Ark alive, but I can't climb a tree. Still, I'm glad it was Lavi who was with me. Kanda would've let me die, no doubt, and Lenalee would've been… annoying, exaggerating._

He felt bad for thinking of the girl like that, but it would probably have been the truth.

He tried rolling over to his side, but the needle in his right hand and his heavily bandaged leg prevented him from doing so. The limb felt like stone, as if a part of him had changed into a marble statue, and he couldn't move it without receiving a twinge of pain. Failing to suppress a groan, he closed his eyes and decided to go back to sleep.

* * *

Lavi filled the hours with aimlessly wandering around. His main excuse was to avoid Bookman, who would surely saddle him up with even more work. He had already seen Kanda, laughed at the band-aid on his face and been threatened to death. Now, he was bored. The head nurse had chased him out of the infirmary and he had been waiting ever since to get back in.

That was the real reason.

* * *

"Yeah, Lavi's okay," Komui answered Allen's question, fiddling with his barrette distractedly, "you, on the other hand," he pointed his finger accusingly at the boy, "won't have any missions for half a year, at least."

Allen wasn't surprised, he had already expected something like this. Still, if felt as if a bucket of ice-cold water got dumped over his head and the contents streamed along his neck onto his back. He doubted his capability of being lazy for such a long time.

He snapped out of his thoughts when he saw the door open hesitatingly from the corner of his eye. Lavi was the one sneaking in, followed by Lenalee, who was walking normally while watching Lavi oddly.

"Hey, Moyashi!" Lavi, less loud than he would normally have, said, "We asked Kanda to come with us, but he didn't want to. Always so shy…"

"What? You told Kanda about… me?" Allen asked panicky, would the Japanese exorcist lose the little respect he had for him when he heard about this?

"So, we meet here again," Komui said to the red-haired boy, feigning solemnity, "and thus, we will part."

His sister looked at him as if he had suddenly grown three flashing antennas and had transformed into a dancing fish stick. With a dangerous smile, she told him to go back to work. Miraculously, it worked, and the Chief left.

"You look better than when you arrived yesterday," she said, her previous expression had completely vanished and was now replaced by one of concern.

"Yeah," Lavi added, "at times, I thought I was carrying a corpse."

Allen felt embarrassed because Lavi had had to _carry _him all the way back. "I'm… I'm sorry for being a burden," he said sheepishly.

"Nah, it's alright," Lavi said and sat down on Allen's bed, but when doing so, he accidentally put his hand –and a part of his weight– on the boy's leg.

"OW-!" Allen clenched his mouth shut to refrain from screaming the entire ward together.

"Whoa! I'm so sorry!" Lavi hastily apologized and rubbed his shoulder in a comforting manner, Lenalee was smoothing out the crumpled sheets to have something on hands.

"'S… o-okay," Allen managed to get out between gasps.

Lenalee wisely took place in a chair next to the bed, and Lavi followed her example. They talked for a while, until the girl left.

"What time is it?" Allen asked his only remaining visitor.

"It must be seven in the evening by now. We arrived yesterday around noon, and today you've been sleeping for nearly the whole day."

The white-haired boy tried to push himself upright to see if it had already gotten dark outside, but it was impossible to move the increased weight caused by the cast.

"Here, let me help you."

He shot Lavi a suspicious look.

"I'll be more careful, I promise," he said, grinning at Allen's expression.

Allen felt an arm slip behind his back, while the other one was put under his arm. He heard a rustle from the pillows before Lavi made him lean against them.

"Thanks," he murmured, feeling pathetic. Averting his eyes, he saw the sun had almost completely sunk beneath the horizon. They watched in silence until they could no longer distinguish the dark silhouettes of the trees from the sky. Then, Lavi asked what he had actually fallen from the other day.

Allen wanted to give him a heroic explanation, but his brains seemed too tired to come up with something. _Damn painkillers._

"I –uh– fell from a tree," he told his friend hesitatingly, preparing himself for an outburst of laughter, but it never came. Instead, the redhead gave him a sympathetic look.

"Please don't tell anyone, they don't… need to know," he quickly added.

"I won't, don't worry."

They shared a comfortable silence, and soon Allen felt his eyelids were getting heavier by the minute. The apprentice Bookman noticed it and helped him lie down again. He smiled at him before closing his eyes and heard the sound of his footsteps fade away when sleep engulfed him.

* * *

The next few days passed in a similar fashion. Lavi visited, they talked for a while, they laughed more every day and eventually, they would fall silent and just sit together.

Allen wasn't feeling lonely, but he felt so _imprisoned_. He hadn't been outside for four days straight.

"Laaaviii, I feel like I'm growing mouldy," he whined.

"Wanna go for a walk? I'll go get a wheelchair."

"What? No! A crutch will do fine!"

"Then it'll take an eternity 'till we reach the end of the hallway, plus, the head nurse won't let you," Lavi smirked.

Allen sighed in defeat and pushed the blankets off him. The person who had bandaged his leg must've wanted the limb to look like an elephant's. Its diameter measured at least twenty-five centimetres. After a moment of struggling, they were ready to get out.

Allen was glad to be away from the smell of disinfectant and ether, but his attention focused on a low murmur coming from the end of the hallway, where a group of scientists stood talking.

"Why don't we go the other way?" Allen tried not to let nervousness sound in his voice. Lavi saw what he meant and made a 180-degree turn.

The red-haired boy seemed to know the way out of the building by heart. He was chatting happily while rounding corners, choosing junctions and opening door after door. Allen didn't think he would be able to get out this quickly ever again. Maybe if he considered blowing up a wall. But according to the _Rules to Maintain a Happy Mood for a Nice and Clean European Branch_, that would count as vandalism against the Order. (Everyone suspected Komui for coming up with a title like that for the miserable booklets he had made a poor, clueless new guy spread around the whole building two weeks ago. Allen had no idea why he had even bothered to read it.)

It was about five in the afternoon, and the watery rays of sunlight were clinging hopefully to the trees of the forest. They couldn't get off the stone stairs of the landing, so they remained standing (and seated) where the older of the two had parked the wheelchair.

Right in front of the door.

"Move it, Lavi, someone might want to use this door."

"They'll have to wait, then. I'm not going anywhere."

Nice to know, but if someone has to pass, I'm going to get _out_," Allen said, annoyed.

"As if," Lavi grinned, "I know you can't move such a weight."

Allen frowned, "And why would you know?"

Lavi looked at him from above, "Because I see it. Every time you move, that leg stays immobile. You can't even move it sideways."

Allen didn't like the way Lavi was looking down at him, "What are you insinuating? It's not paralyzed or anything, if that's what you want to know."

The older laughed it off, "Nothing, Moyashi–"

"Allen! And if you think I'm weak, I'll show you–" He had already put his left foot on the stone floor and was starting to push himself upright with his arms.

"Hey– stop that! I was just teasing you, okay?" Lavi pushed him back down, getting an angry glare in return, "Maybe I went a little to far, but your face was just so funny."

Allen knew he was overdoing it, so he wiped the glare off his face and pasted a smile in place, laughing at his own behaviour.

"Let's go back inside. The days are shortening already, and I'm getting cold."

* * *

Lavi's frequent visits were the only distraction Allen had, so he couldn't deny he was always looking forward to them. After being at the infirmary for a whole week straight, the place was starting to bore him to death. The long discussions with the head nurse about whether he could return to his own room, had had no effect at all. They always ended with the woman stating they were far too undermanned to offer him the luxury of sending a nurse to his room to check up on him every few hours. It made him feel spoiled and selfish, and that was exactly how she wanted him to feel. She knew from experience that that was most exorcists' weak spot.

So, Allen felt relieved every time Lavi came by and took him for a walk. They always had something to talk about, even though Allen hadn't experienced anything special the past week and Lavi practically never shut up.

"Lavi, I want to stand up. Here and now," Allen said in a deadpan manner. They were at what had now become their usual spot, in front of that door.

"Umm… I guess you could try," the older said, looking around to see if they weren't being watched. You never knew. He wasn't planning on getting the blame if they got caught for doing something so… irresponsible.

He held his hand out so Allen could hold onto it and pulled him up, he then moved his hand to the boy's shoulder, in order to steady him. Once he was convinced of the stability, he looked down at his friend to make sure he wasn't in pain. But instead, he was amazed to see him smiling the brightest smile he had seen in weeks, maybe even in months.

At the same time, he felt bad because Allen seemed too caught up in his euphoria to realize that he wasn't doing anything himself.

"Lavi! I can do it! Maybe it won't take months after all!"

"Don't get too reckless, Moyashi."

Even though Allen wasn't too heavy, the muscles in Lavi's arms were getting tired of holding the boy upright.

* * *

Lavi had dropped Allen off at the infirmary and was now on his way to the cafeteria. He hadn't eaten since noon and could practically hear the growling of his stomach echoing through the empty stone corridor. Somehow, the sound he thought he was hearing, changed into rushed footsteps coming his way. He slowly turned around, because the noise seemed still far enough away, and saw a panting Johnny half-stumbling, half-running in his direction.

"Lavi!" the short scientist yelled, relieved to see someone, "I saw them! They've returned!" He slipped to a stop when he caught up with him.

"Who?" the future Bookman said in a reflex, without really thinking. Of course he was talking about the villagers from before.

"Those vill–"

"Same place?" Lavi interrupted him.

Johnny nodded. "I saw them from my room! I don't know if anyone's already noticed them! I have to report it to the control room!"

Lavi inwardly groaned. This meant that he would have to delay his dinner. And it was already eight in the evening. "I'll go there and check if they brought any akuma. Mere humans shouldn't cause any serious damage.

"Be careful!" Johnny said as they split up.

Once he was outside, Lavi grabbed onto Ouzuchi Kozuchi and extended it until he was at a height from where he could decently see his surroundings. He spotted some flickering lights from torches beneath the trees. Strangely enough, the people didn't make a panicky or noisy impression, which could mean that the akuma from the previous time were now absent. Or they hadn't revealed themselves yet. Or worse, the people had come to consider the demons as allies.. He hoped the last option would forever remain mere imaganation.

"Damn, if only Allen were here…" he murmured, trying to come to a decision. Stay here and simply observe from afar, or intervene and search for akuma. The first possibility seemed wiser and he was absolutely sure Bookman would go for that one. But the second one was probably more practical. He would kill any potential akuma… and deal with an angry crowd afterwards. Lavi sighed, he wouldn't be able to handle this alone, so he got down and went back inside.

A golem immediately joined him and Reever's voice told him they planned to keep an eye on the people, for now, they seemed harmless. Still, all exorcists would have to stay alert in case the situation changed.

_I can be alert while I'm eating_, he thought when his stomach growled for attention.

* * *

Allen _knew_ something was off when Lavi entered the infirmary ward, scratching his neck. He always did that when he was planning to keep silent about something that went wrong. The moment he noticed Allen's questiononing look, he put his hand in his pocket and smiled.

Allen frowned, "Did something happen that you don't want me to know about?"

Lavi laughed and made sweeping motions with his hand in the air, as if trying to wipe the subject away, "No, nothing."

"Tell me, or I'll find out myself."

The older pulled up a chair and sat down next to the bed, "I told you nothing happened, do you think I'm a liar?"

"Yes."

"That hurt, Moyashi," he made a pained expression and put his hand on his chest.

"Allen. And you just proved me right."

"Ahh, you're annoying, you know? I'll tell you, but only because I want to talk about other stuff and 'cause I'm tired of your whining," Lavi sighed in defeat, "Those people came back, that's all, but we haven't reacted yet because we don't know if they brought akuma–"

"My eye could detect them–"

"That's exactly why I didn't want to tell y–"

"But–"

"NO. You stay here. Everyone else manages without an eye like yours, so _we_'ll be _fine_," Lavi snapped.

The look of mild shock in Allen's eyes made him realize how stern he had just sounded. Especially because the 'we' didn't contain Allen. It probably confirmed the feeling of uselessness that had nested itself in the boy's head.

Lavi quickly apologized, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound like that…" he reached for he side of Allen's face and gently tucked the hair that hung in front of his eyes behind his ear. He subconsciously noticed it had gotten longer. "What I want to say, is that you shouldn't be feeling guilty. I know you're tired of waiting and recovering, but that's the only thing you have to right now."

Allen didn't seem convinced, and the way he was sitting on the bed, with hanging shoulders, watching his nails picking at the bed sheets, and his hair falling in front of his eyes _again_, made something inside Lavi break.

The smaller one was surprised to feel two arms wrap around him and gently push him against their owner's chest. He didn't know how to react, so he tensed, let the touch lead him and hesitatingly put his forehead against Lavi's shoulder.

The sound of someone scraping his throat made them break the embrace as fast as it had formed. The old, small Bookman was standing at the door, hands in his sleeves and looking far from pleased.

"So here you are, idiot apprentice," the old man said emotionlessly, "please excuse us Allen Walker, but that idiot hs been neglecting his work, so he's coming with me."

Allen opened his mouth, but closed it again when he couldn't think of a reply.

"Don't talk about me as if I'm an object, Gramps," Lavi groaned.

Bookman motioned with his chin to follow him and exited the ward.

"I'll come back later," the apprentice whispered and followed his teacher.

* * *

They didn't exchange a word nor a look while walking to their shared room. After they entered, the old man turned the key with a soft metallic click.

"You're behind with your paper work, idiot, even more than normally." Bookman's kohl-rimmed eyes eyed his student sternly.

"Half of that stuff is useless, anyway. Blame it on the bureaucracy, not on me," Lavi retorted, looking at a spot in the air about ten centimetres above the tip of Bookman's odd haircut.

The old man's expression slowly changed into one of dissapointment. "I hope you know what you're doing. We have to stay here for as long as possible in order to record this Holy War. It's the greatest one going on right now, so I hope you're not planning anything foolish that would make our stay more difficult."

"I'm only here for records," Lavi kept his eye locked on the same spot in the air.

Bookman gave him a wary look. "Just pay attention to your behavior."

**

* * *

A/N: **If there's something I'm really good at, it's delaying. I totally had two months and a half to write a whole fanfic, and I already wasted two months by doing other fun stuff XD No, really, this Tuesday, I'm going to Barcelona (in Spain, in DGm-terms: that city where Daisya Barry died XP …Right?) with three of my friends (it's the first trip abroad we're making without an adult accompanying us, so we made an **awesome** schedule.)

Ahum, so what I want so say, is: I'll be returning a week later, and then I hope to spend my last free days on finishing this terrible thing… It's far from finished! But I WILL CONTINUE! I WON'T BE LAZY!

Thanks for reading!

Speshul thanks:  
#The Brave and Helpful **Vivi **(Thanksfor correcting me! I changed it!)  
#The Sweet and Nice **DGrayManFanatic**  
#The Lovely and Update-Wanting **letta**  
#The Enjoyable and Smiling **xScarletMoonx**

**(1 Review = 2 adjectives! That means one's FREE! :D **But I'm not going to behave like a reviewhore :) )


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